Experience Iowa Blogs

Survival and Winter Storms

Ok, so technically survival and winter storms have nothing to do with each other, but hey, it sounded cool

I apologize for not blogging about my second day, but I figured I might as well wait until after the first week so I could give an update on the whole week in general. I did, in fact, survive the first full week and it was not that bad. I’m still working on some last minute scheduling things but hopefully they all work out.

Wednesday was my first Chemistry II lecture. I’m still a little hesitant about my chemistry abilities, but in the short review we did in class, I understood most of it, so I guess that’s a good sign. I also had my first Calculus lecture. After the discussion on Tuesday, I was a little hesitant about that too. But the new professor we have for Calc seems really nice and really willing to help us learn (he even said “Bless you” when I sneezed during lecture). I also had Chemistry Case Study, which is what we normally do the week before lab to discuss the experiment and learn the equations we will need. Since this was the first Case Study, we basically went over some of the safety guidelines and how lab will work. I’m a little terrified of lab because my lab partner from last semester couldn’t take the same lab as me, but luckily I managed to find another lab partner who will also be awesome at explaining the things I don’t understand. I also had University Band, which for the night is just information and chair placement tests. My chair placement test really didn’t go very well so we’ll see where I end up. Unfortunately, I’m not sure if I can even take band yet. There’s another class I’m trying to get into that will overlap band. The directors for band are being totally awesome about my attendance until I find out about this class. One of the biggest lessons I have learned in college is to let your professors know what’s going on. If they know what’s going on, they are way more likely to be cool with it or even offer help; however, they can only do that if you tell them, the earlier the better. I really want to be able to do band. It’s a lot of fun, even if you’re not the most amazing player. I’m hoping I can work something out. If I can’t, I will definitely be back in band next semester.

Thursday was fairly uneventful, only two classes, same with Friday. Weeeeelllll, I guess Friday wasn’t completely uneventful. We had a substitute chem professor, since our usual one was at a conference. This substitute had a unique way of teaching chemistry. Since we were discussing solutions (saturated, unsaturated, super saturated), she compared the solution to a night club. If you have a saturated solution, no more solute will fit into it. Kind of like a night club, once the dance floor is packed, you can’t fit anyone else in. Along with this came the lesson that if your dog drinks methanol, you should get him drunk because the alcohol slows down the chemical process that will make him blind and possibly dead. In the extra time you have from the slowed down reaction, you have more time to get your dog to the vet. We also came up with our own analogy from her description of gases, “if a gas can make a run for it, it will.” My friends and I decided that gases were like guys, they make a run for it at the first chance they get (kidding, of course :)). We also learned that insoluble solute-solvents are like bikers and hipsters. They know they’re different and will just stare at each other from across the room. They will not mix unless forced (but it takes a lot of force for a very unsuccessful attempt). We also learned a few pick-up lines. “You’re a bit dipole, I’m a bit dipole, let’s get together.” And something about being like ions and mingling. Let’s just say that for being an 8:30 class, we were all quite awake and entertained.

It’s kind of nice to have a busy beginning of the week and a relaxing end of the week. I think it will help me get my homework done before the weekend rather than spending all weekend working on it or doing it Sunday night, which is one of my goals.

My academic goals for the semester:

Get an early start on homework.

Schedule time to read.

Plan time to go to office hours and get help before I really need it (aka two days before an exam).

Get better grades than last semester (let’s be honest, first semester was a tad rough).

My social goals for the semester:

Volunteer more, I want to get out and help more.

Join another club (currently thinking dance club or photography club).

Be more active in Society of Women Engineers (SWE) and Women in Science and Engineering (WiSE).

Plan at least one friend activity a week to get away and relax for a little bit.

I might add more to these goals as the semester goes along, but those are the basics. Some people say that you’re more successful if you don’t share your goals, but to me it seems like the more people who know your goals, the more likely you’ll be held accountable to meeting your goals.

On Sunday, after catching up on sleep, I was greeted with an ice storm! It was amazingly slippery outside (increased slippage, as a high school friend and I decided). I just about fell three or four times walking across the street to Burge for lunch. It was also entertaining to watch people walk/slip (I’m really a nice person, I am!). Here are some pictures for you. Sorry they’re mostly from around my dorm, I really didn’t want to go very far with the horrifying image in my mind of slipping and falling on top of my camera (it’s my baby!).

North Hall
I actually took this out of a window in our lounge. It looked very pretty with the red trees and bricks, the ice heavily accented it.